Cathy's Art Diary

Intriguing exhibition at the Centre for British Photography of a series of photographs by Heather Agyepong. This was a commission by the Hyman Collection from 2019 to respond to early twentieth century postcard imagery reflecting the Cake-Walk dance craze in Europe. It focuses on Aida Overton Walker, the celebrated African American vaudeville performer who was known as the Queen of the Cake-Walk a dance craze that was originally performed by enslaved people who mocked and mimicked the slaveholders and high society. Agyepong uses herself as the model for Overton and these pictures were shown in a large format in the exhibition but were also available to view in the shop in the size of the postcards they mimic. I   loved   the way they told a serious story and the issues it raised with beauty and humour. As you might have realised, I like a show that leaves me more to find out so I'm off to Google Aida and I want to see more work by Agyepong. I'm a sucker for someone who ...

Lovely exhibition at the Centre for British Photography looking at the place of the home in British photography over the last century. The   show takes its title from Bill Brandt’s first book “The English at Home” in 1935 and traces a line from there to the present day. I was pleased to recognise a number of the photographers from previous exhibitions. i particularly love this sort of documentary photography. The show was both a history of photography but also of housing and interiors. I spent a lot of time looking at Karen Knorr’s pictures of people and interiors of Belgravia taken from 1979-80 with their ironic inscriptions. They made an interesting contrast to the earlier images mainly of working-class areas. My favourites were a series of pictures of all the living rooms in a street by Daniel Meadows and Martin Parr from 1973. I loved Martin Parr’s work but these were new to me. It was funny trying to explain 1970s décor to my younger, Swedish companion. Closes 23 Apri...

Fun display at the Centre for British Photography of photographs of Splitting Image puppets. These works were commissioned by the Hyman collection which includes a number of the original puppets by Fluk and Law of Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet Ministers and they asked   photographers Andrew Bruce and Anna Fox to respond the figures. These were pictures of the puppets against bright backgrounds. In some cases they were taken almost like portraits yet they were missing legs and in some cases were only heads. In one image they were piled on top of each other. It made them look even more ominous than they originally did. I attended the show with a young Swedish friend so it was funny to try to describe to them what Splitting Image was. They were so iconic to me but alien to them, even most of the politicians being lampooned were now unknown to them. It just shows how people and things get forgotten and in the case of many of these politicians that’s just as well! All things ...

Exciting new gallery in Jermyn Street showcasing British photography. The gallery has been set up to host exhibitions as well as to provide access to the Hyman Collection, the private collection of Claire and James Hyman and one of the world's major collections of British photography. I was interested to see from the exhibits that they not only collect work but also commission new projects. It is a flexible space over three floors and had six small exhibitions and displays when I was there, so yes, you can guess what the next few blog posts are going to be! It also has a good shop selling photography books and high-quality prints of featured artists. Each of those was displayed like a small exhibition but I’m afraid I’ll be here forever if I try to blog those as well. Some of them however did mirror work in the exhibitions. I’ll definitely make a point of going to all the shows here. The space is seed funded by the Hyman’s for two years to develop relationships with other ...